Dreamgirls

If youre buying a ticket to the current revival tour of Dreamgirls, the splashy 1981 musical about a Supremes-like 1960s R&B trio, youre waiting for Effie to unleash her lungs on And I Am Telling You Im Not Going at the end of Act One. You know: The big girl gets the boot from both the group and her lover/managers bed but shes staying, shes sta-ay-aay-ing, and you and you and youyoure gonna love her. All available advance evidence (i.e. appearances on The Early Show et al) suggests that you should indeed have reason to adore this productions defiant diva, Moya Angela, whos got stronger vocal chops than Jennifer Hudson, the American Idol alum whom Hollywood handed an Oscar for the 2006 movie adaptation. (Lets not bring Jennifer Holliday, Broadways original, ineffable Effie, into this. Thems fightin words.) But this production still has Idol thoughts, casting lovely Syesha Mercado, a 2008 finalist from the TV competition, as Deena, Effies friend-cum-Diana Ross rival. And a bit of the film sticks around, too, in the form of Listen, a song originally written to give Beyoncé her Big Movie Moment, but which here receives new lyrics as an Act Two duet for Effie and Deena. Whatever. Its candy for the eye and the ear. Argue about the rest in the lobby. STEVE WIECKING